Des_Employability_Skills

Discuss, review and justify the advantages and disadvantages of employability skills and employment skills in the current marketplace. Discuss the difference between employability skills and employment skills within the context of the music industry Employment Skills Employment Skills and Employability Skills may be easily confused skills on first hearing, but the two have significantly different meanings. Employment skills are those which allow us to find work and enter the workplace. In short employment skills are the tools which allow us to locate relevant jobs and secure an interview and maintain our position. “Employability is the capability of getting and keeping satisfactory work” Institute of Employment Studies, 1999 A list of important employment skills is below:- • Good verbal and physical communication • Good written communication skills • A good and effective CV • Significant experience • A good portfolio of qualifications and CPD • Presentability and confident manner • Good IT skills • Good interview skills (Anticipating questions) In the milieu of music honing these skills to your highly competetive sector is more important then ever. The music sector relies strongly on networking and ‘who you know’. That is not to say that it is not a meritocracy, but that like many professional sectors people will tend to rely on people that they can trust to deliver a product. Depending on the particular area of the music sector in which the hopeful candidate is looking for work the way that they can best present themselves may change. Some may require strong interpersonal skills, others may require and excellent promotional pack or strong organisational skills. It is at this point that employment skills and employability skills begin to converge Employability Skills Employability skills are are the qualities and competencies that make a potential employee attractive to an employer. These skills are in 2 distinct categories; core skills and soft skills. Core skills are the specific professional skills relating to the job and tend to be more technical in nature and reliant upon experience and/or study. A few examples follow:- |Core Skills |Music Industry Examples | |Technical Ability |Musicianship, Marketplace knowledge | |Communication |Networking, stagecraft | |Organisation for self and others |Rehearsals, Project management | |Sense of responsibility |Commitment to band or project/ organisation | |Analytical/research |Contextual research and self evaluation | |Management/Leadership |Managing a project, attracting interest | |IT |Music software knowledge, Presentations | |Interpersonal |Bandwork, teamwork, networking | |Creativity/initiative |Creating musical or marketing ideas | |Functional skills |Good communication | |Adaptability/flexibility |Dealing with change, problems, personalities | Core skills are important in any role but soft skills are often the key to success and are, unfortunately much more difficult to quantify. “Employers generally see a graduate’s achievements related to the subject discipline as necessary but not sufficient for them to be recruited. In some employment contexts the actual subject discipline may be relatively unimportant. Achievements outside the boundaries of the discipline (such as the possession of so-called ‘soft skills’) are generally considered to be important in the recruitment of graduates.” Yorke, 2006 Soft skills encompass more emotional and animal interactive skills , some of which can be easily developed and others which are sometimes less tangible. A few examples of simpler soft skills are below. • Punctuality & reliability • Appearance • Patience • Dedication & commitment • Integrity/morality/honesty • Diplomacy • Dynamism • Passion • Self-confidence • Interest in learning Others less easily defined might be charisma or ‘being a natural leader’. Typically the music industry, which is a people centred industry, requires a successful individual to have a full raft of core skills and an even more muscular set of soft skills. In the music industry opportunities often arise through a chance conversation, overheard word or other tiny spark of an idea. By running with a good idea and remembering contacts who might be interested or particularly relevant to an idea a great deal can be achieved. Dynamism and drive are essential as is the ability to create ideas from very little. Allying these soft skills to solid skills or reliability, professionalism and time keeping is a recipe for success, and it is here that many ambitious but disorganised musicians fall down. Review the advantages and disadvantages of each in the current marketplace/workplace To use employability and employment skills effectively together requires a certain degree of self awareness in the individual. Without is the skills can conflict or mask one another. In music or art the most common dilemma is between the needs of the the artist as a creative practitioner and the needs of the artist to have his or her basic needs met as a human being - put simply: artistic freedom versus professional and personal security. Below is a list of marketplace specific and non-specific skills which can have a negative effect on another skill if not kept in check. According to Creative and Cultural Skills for 2006, the following statistics reflect the demographic of employment on the music sector:- • Total employment 95,010 • Live performance accounts for 47% of total • 27% of the workforce is in London • 69% of the workforce is male • 93% of the workforce is white Whilst statistics don’t tell the whole story it goes to show that research is key in finding work. Live Performance vs other areas Nearly half of the sector’s potential for employment would be within live music, particularly in fairly manual work, (e.g. staffing bars, security, road crew, technical crew) as well as promoting, booking and other more marketing related work. If an individual is not interested in live performance then there will be fewer jobs. That said, it might be possible to find work very similar to one’s ideal (perhaps in a record company) in the areas of marketing and promotion that would deliver highly transferrable skills (Statistics are a blunt instrument). Location Over a quarter of the workforce is in London. this means the rest of the UK’s towns and cities make up the remaining 73% so the music industry is relatively thinly spread in other places. Many of the best networking opportunities will arise in London (even if other aspects of companies are outside) and it is the UK centre for certain genres. Nevertheless, it may be that certain other areas are much better for certain scenes or styles (e.g. Trip Hop (Bristol), folk (Scotland or Ireland). Increasingly business can be done remotely and it is now possible for composers to be based wherever they like, given a portion of time dedicated to networking and occasional visits to London. There is also something to be said for the nurturing of regional scenes - the 60‘s British invasion started in liverpool and most american bands have the luxury of being allowed to develop into a top band in their state before being thrust into the premier league of music competition. Too much exposure too soon often breaks many an inexperienced British act. Gender 69% of the workforce is male, but given that 47% of the work is in live music, the majority of which is manual work (which generally attracts men), it is actually more likely that women can find work in the creative/marketing and business sectors and my own experience of the music business reflects that there are more women in the business side. Other than the specifics of the music workplace, gender discrimination can happen in the normal ways meaning that women may be less likely to receive promotion (For the often cited reasons of having children etc,) or that they may be percieved as less able to cope with the social aspects of the job (due to childcare etc.). Race On the face of it a white person is more likely to be employed in the music sector - 93% to 7%. but this must also be balanced against the general ratio of people of colour and white people in the population (92% white according to the 2001 census although the non white population will mostly be younger and hence still working). Whilst the the statistics are unclear I suspect white people are more likely that other peoples to be employed in the music sector. There is a flipside which is that ethnic peoples will be able to use their race to a competetive advantage in certain folk and world music areas (e.g bhangra) and in certain musical styles where some races are predominant (e.g rap). As with gender, difference can be sometimes turned to an advantage as a unique marketable quality. Explain and justify how the needs of target audiences should be taken into account when planning and preparing employability skills training sessions and support material By targeting their efforts in searching for work a person can maximise the effectiveness of their efforts. By planning carefully and marketing selectively targeting will save time, stress and energy in achieving goals. There are two parts to this process - Knowing what you want and knowing what characteristics your target audience needs. A target audience’s demographic will display a number of variables important in determining one’s approach, such as gender, race, age, educational attainment, location and Income. These variables will each require specific skills in the individual to be successful. The table below shows a few examples of target audiences for differing roles and the skills and training required to become successful. |Role |Target |Employability Skills |Training/ Other | |Performer/Artist - Boy Band |females |Communication |Gigs/ radio slots | |(16-18) |13-30 |Networking |game plan | | |School/college/university |Talent |Promo materials | | |Low income |Effort/Energy |Virtual networking(facebook,| | | |Presentability |myspace) | | | |People Skills | | | | |Professionalism | | | | |Industry Awareness | | |Studio Producer/ Engineer |Male |Flexibility |Networking | | |18-50 |IT Skills |business development | | |Bands and artists |Professionalism | | | |Signed/ working acts |Communication | | | | |Business Skills | | | | |Technical skills | | | | |Experience | | | | |People skills | | |Vocal Music Teacher |Female |Singing skills/ experience |Communication, confidence, | | |12-70 |Multicultural Sensitivity |leadership and flexibility | | |Low/medium income |Leadership |workshops. | | |Employed |Communication | | | | |Business skills | | | | |Networking | | | | |Flexibility | | |Music Technician at Venue |Male |Listening skills |Organise a gig with set | | |White |Experience/ tech skills |criteria and sound engineer.| | |Mid income or above |Problem solving |Employment skills workshop. | | |25+ |Flexibility | | | | |Communication | | | | |Problem solving | | These skills need to be incorporated into the subject being taught in order to fully equip students with the skills required for the workplace. Increasing the students’ ability to self-reflect about their work and to be critical of their own progress will naturally develop these skills, so undertaking activities which allow such processes is essential. here is the last word from the CBI:- “ the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) Employment Trends Survey 2006 found that the majority of employers feel that school leavers lack skills vital for employment: 65% feel they lack self-management ability, 70% were dissatisfied with business awareness, and 47% believed they had a poor attitude to work. Just over half (52%) of employers were dissatisfied with school leavers key employability skills such as communicating, team-working and problem solving. “ CDELL, 2007 Analyse the skills, qualities and competencies required for delivering employability skills and review own strengths and weaknesses in this context Self awareness is essential for both student and educator. It is often by the teacher being aware of his or her own strengths and weaknesses, as a teacher, and sharing them with the students that they are able to understand the value of self-critique. Below is a list (scored out of 5) for my own competencies. |Skill |Aspect |Score | |Music Specialist Skills |Technical Control/Accuracy |4 | | |Musicianship/Style/Interpretation |4 | | |Presentation/Projection/Communication |4 | |People Skills |Team Working |4 | | |Leadership |5 | | |Interpersonal Skills |4 | | |Customer Orientation |3 | | |Oral/Written Communication |5 | | |Cultural Awareness Skills |3 | |Self-Reliance Skills |Self Awareness/Confidence |5 | | |Self-Promotion Skills |4 | | |Initiative/Pro-Activity/Self-Motivation |4 | | |Networking Skills |3 | | |Willingness to Learn |5 | | |Action Planning and Self-Regulatory Skills |4 | |General Skills |Problem Solving/Intellectual Skills |5 | | |IT/Computer Literacy |5 | | |Flexibility/Adaptability |5 | | |Numeracy Skills |5 | | |Business Acumen |3 | | |Commitment |4 | Not enough 5’s! This is a useful exercise if filled in honestly and frankly and tends to point toward some specific and some general trends. Music specialist skills My music specialist skill are very good if not outstanding which suggests that I would benefit perhaps from a little more specialisation and also a little further study and revision into certain areas. Remedy - Some further reading or study into composition or music technology would be helpful as would revising some aspects of harmony and musical theory as well as time spent on updating my knowledge of Cubase, Ableton and Logic. People Skills My people skill are for the most part very good, but occasionally I need to remember the client as the central focus of the exercise. My physical, verbal and written communication skills are very good but I sometimes need to focus on individuals more and to make my points with a little more subtlety Remedy - Perhaps some inset training, further teacher training or other CPD activity as well as further reading about class teaching particularly with reference to cultural awareness. Self-Reliance Skills My self reliance skills is probably the most improved area of my skills in recent times. i still require a little more effort toward planning in time and a little more organisation with my self promotion and networking. Remedy - Consecrate some time to plans shortly after sessions and to develop website, promotional packages and other materials General Skills My general skills are very good with business acumen being my weakest area. Occasionally my commitment wavers due to my interest in projects that may in fact be unachievable given time constraints on my life. Remedy - Don’t take on too much and try to attend some networking functions to improve networking and business knowledge. Bibliography Yorke, M. (2006) Employability in Higher Education: What it is - what it is not, Learning and Employability Series 1. The Higher Education Academy, York. Tamkin P, Hillage J. (1999) Employability and Employers: the missing piece of the jigsaw, Report 361. Institute for Employment Studies. ----------------------- |Skill |Conflicting with...... | |Music theory- sight reading |Improvisation | |Creativity |Unable to apply skills to business framework | |Experience |Fixed ideas/ lack of CPD | |Confident leadership skill |Teamwork (May be too overbearing in a group) | |High technical ability (focused skill) |High technical ability (focussed skill) | |Self-discipline |Creativity, thinking outside the box | |Perfectionism |Working to deadlines | |Responsibility |Unwillingness to commit | |Passion/ Commitment |Responsibility/ compromise | |Organisation |Spontaneity and dynamism | |Verbal communication skills |Poor at completing activities |